$10-25 million in Recovery Act funds added to cleanup at Iron Mountain Mine Superfund Site

(SAN FRANCISCO) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced $10 to $25 million in new funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the Iron Mountain Mine Superfund site near Redding, California. The money will accelerate the hazardous waste clean-up already underway at the site. It will also jumpstart the local economy by creating jobs in the Redding area. This Recovery Act funding is part of the $600 million that Congress appropriated to the Federal Superfund remedial program.

“EPA has an answer to these challenging economic times,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “Under the Recovery Act, we're getting harmful pollutants and dangerous chemicals out of these communities and putting jobs and investment back in.”

This funding will cut in half the time needed to dredge, treat and dispose of sediment in the Spring Creek Arm of the Keswick Reservoir. Removing this contaminated sediment could also produce $3 to $6 million of additional peak power by removing constraints on the Central Valley Project so it may free up resources currently needed to prevent contaminated sediment releases.

“In less than a month, the community will see hundreds of additional green jobs and a greatly accelerated cleanup at Iron Mountain Mine due to this infusion of Recovery Act funding,” said Laura Yoshii, the EPA’s acting regional administrator for the Pacific Southwest.

The Federal Superfund program was created in 1980 to clean up uncontrolled hazardous waste sites that pose unacceptable risks to human health and the environment. Superfund sites are often found in industrial areas hardest hit by the recession. Superfund cleanups are major construction projects which employ thousands of workers nationwide. The Superfund program is implementing new or expanded cleanup actions at 50 sites around the country and since it began, the program has completed construction of remedies at more than 1,060 of the 1,587 sites on its National Priorities List.

By starting or speeding up cleanup at Superfund sites, Recovery Act funding is also increasing the speed with which these sites are returned to productive use. When a Superfund site is redeveloped, it can offer significant economic benefits to local communities including future job creation.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on February 17, 2009 and has directed the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at www.Recovery.gov.

For more information on the Iron Mountain Mine Superfund Site, please visit: www.epa.gov/region09/IronMountainMine